


The Birthday Curse

by Fullofanxiety



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 21:24:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17067383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fullofanxiety/pseuds/Fullofanxiety
Summary: Its Virgil's birthday. How could the sides forget?





	The Birthday Curse

**Author's Note:**

> Some angst ends in fluff. Don't worry. AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIRGIL!

It was a dark room with only small purple fairy lights strung up along the ceiling to provide just enough light to see by. Virgil lay sprawled across his dark purple bedspread scrolling through Tumblr. His brown eyes trailed up to the corner of his phone screen.  _ 11:59 PM _ . Virgil sighed. He had a minute until December 19th. A minute left until it was officially his birthday. Not that he was excited for it to come. 

The only reason he was up was because the new Hamidrop was being released after midnight and he wanted to hear the new song right away. It was just a few extra minutes anyway. It normally took Virgil a while to fall asleep so it wouldn't be too much of a difference to stay up until a little after midnight. 

Virgil was startled out of his thoughts when his phone vibrated in his hand. He looked and saw that Lin-Manuel Miranda had tweeted the new Hamidrop. Virgil smiled despite the date and quickly listened to the new song. It was amazing. After he listened, he turned his fairy lights off and crawled under his covers. 

_ Maybe it will be a fairly decent birthday.  _ He couldn't help but think as he slowly slipped into a deep sleep. 

\----

Virgil woke with a groan as he heard Roman's booming voice from out in the hall shouting about some kind of idea he just had for a new video. Virgil opened his eyes and stared at his ceiling as he listened to the music waving through the air from his phone. It was weird, the new hamidrop was playing. That song out of the over a thousand songs he had.  _ Maybe…. _ He thought.  _ Maybe it's a sign that this will be a good day.  _

Virgil immediately frowned.  _ No.  _ He was not going to think like  _ that. _ He didn't want to enact the curse so early in the day. He groaned as he rubbed his eyes before sitting up and swinging his legs out of bed. He turned off his music and pulled his phone off the charger before standing and pulling his hoodie over his pj's. He planned on just lazing in his room all day so there was really no need to change. He also hoped he could ignore the curse that way. It would certainly be a welcome change, even if Virgil knew in the back of his head that the curse was inevitable. 

Virgil shuffled over to his bedroom door and opened it. He stepped outside and journeyed to the kitchen to find Patton and Logan cooking a small breakfast together. Despite it being too early he smiled. He slid into his seat and started scrolling through Tumblr when Roman walked in. 

“Virgil!” Roman exclaimed, a broad smile on his face. “How are you this fine morning?” 

Virgil groaned in response as Roman sat down across from him. 

Roman rolled his eyes playfully as he chuckled. “I guess for someone who's not a morning person it's not as fine as it is for others.” Virgil only grunted in response as he waited for breakfast. 

Virgil was suddenly wide awake when he saw a piece of fanart a Famder had done for his birthday. He quickly closed out of Tumblr and shoved his phone in his pocket before anyone could tell what happened. Luckily, no one noticed. Logan was too busy making toast for everyone while Patton was cooking the eggs and Roman…….Roman was doing what Roman did best. He was talking wildly about his newest idea that would probably be too much stress to actually achieve in the real world.

“Here you go, kiddos!” Patton set two plates down on the table. One in front of Roman and another in front of Virgil. 

“Thank you,” Virgil mumbled before he began eating. 

Patton smiled and ruffled Virgil's hair before he went back to grab his own plate and join them at the table.

Virgil stayed silent for the most part as the others chatted calmly about their day. Patton was thinking of painting, he wanted to try something like an “Action Jackson” painting. Logan was going to double check next week’s schedule before reading. He said he wanted to reread the Sherlock novels again and see if he could find anything that may have hinted to any of the other books. And Roman was planning on going on a small quest in the Imagination. 

“What do you plan on doing today, Virge?” Patton asked.

Virgil shrugged. “I probably will just relax in my room.” The others nodded. They knew that he sometimes just didn't feel up to dealing with other people some days. He just hoped they didn't try to cheer him up. That could activate the curse too. 

Once everyone finished eating, Virgil put his dishes in the sink and moved to head up the stairs. He didn't get far before…

“Virgil?” 

Virgil turned to see Roman in his regal attire at the bottom of the stairs. He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?” 

Roman threw a smile his way. “If you want, you can come with me to the Imagination. I don't mind.” 

Virgil wanted to smile at Roman's clear attempt at making him feel better but, he didn't. He shook his head. “Sorry, Princey. I'm not feeling it today.”

Roman deflated slightly before pushing a small smile on his face. “Well, if you ever feel like it later, just come on in.” 

Virgil let himself smile slightly. “Alright.” Roman smiled back at him before turning to prepare for his trip to through the Imagination leaving Virgil at the top of the stairs for a minute. His smile dropped as he turned and headed into his room, shutting the door before collapsing on his bed. 

He ran a hand over his face as he sighed. He just had to make it a few hours. Just a few hours and his “Dark Day” would be over. Just a few more hours and hopefully he would be able to avoid any questions about his birthday for at least a year. He shouldn't have to worry about it anytime soon, after all, it hadn't been that long since he had been accepted. Virgil let out a sigh. He just had to last today. Just today. And the other sides were going to be doing other things so none of them would be on any of their social media's today. That was a relief.

\----

Roman looked up at the sky as it neared 11. He had started off an hour ago, about half an hour after eating breakfast, and since then he had fought the Dragon Witch, a carriage of robbers and helped a little kitten out of a tree. All that work had made him a little hungry. 

He walked until he found a small patch of grass by a creek. He sat down and unpacked a small bag of trail mix before pulling out his phone. He quickly opened Tumblr (nobody tell Virgil) and went to search through the  _ Prinxiety _ tag when something on his dash caught his eye. It was a video tagged  _ Prinxiety _ .

Curious, Roman clicked the video and found an edit of Virgil to the song,  _ I Can Do Bad  _ by Mary J. Blige. Roman smiled it was a nice song. The smile was short lived, however, when the song ended and the last words to pop up on screen read “Happy Birthday, Virgil!” Roman's eyes blew wide. When was this posted?!?! 

Roman clicked on the person's blog and sent them a quick ask. 

Seconds later he got a reply. Roman felt his heart drop as he read the words,  _ “Yeah! The first video Virgil was in was December 19th! So, Virgil's birthday is today!” _ His heart stopped. 

Roman felt the phone slip from his hands and land on the grass.  _ Oh no. Nonononono! _

Suddenly, everything felt too bright. The sun was too bright. It should be dark and stormy. The birds shouldn't be chipping happily, the grass should be dead. Roman quickly shook himself out of his despair.  _ He had to fix this! _

\----

Patton stood above the canvas on the floor and tried to think of an idea of what colors to use. He didn't know, so he decided to go onto Tumblr to see if any if the colors on blogs looked cool enough to use. Patton felt his heart drop when he saw a video with the caption,  _ “Happy Birthday Virgil!”  _ Patton's face pulled into a sorrowful expression.  _ Was today really his dark strange son's birthday? _

He clicked the video and found it was a bunch of Roman and Virgil pictures edited together with the song,  _ What If  _ by Kane Brown, ft. Lauren Alaina. At the end, the date and Happy Birthday in Disney lettering. Patton gasped and clapped a hand to mouth as he felt a few tears slid down his face. Today was  _ Virgil's birthday.  _ It was Virgil's birthday and Patton didn't get him anything. Patton didn't do anything. 

Patton shoved his head in his hands and groaned. He had treated today like it was any other day. He was  _ horrible.  _ How could he do this to Virgil?!?! He had to do something! 

\----

Logan finally finished with the schedule and pulled a book off of his bookshelf. He felt a smile grace his face as he felt the familiar weight in his hands, the smell. Sure, a kindle would probably be more logical but there was just something about holding a book in your hand. Something about the turning of pages, the sound as you turned those pages. It was….satisfying. 

He set the book down beside his recliner before he sat and pulled out his phone. He checked his watch and decided he could have ten minutes on his phone before he would start reading. He pulled up Tumblr and went to check the Logicality tag. This was his most well kept secret and he was not going to let anyone know of this activity. 

Before he could search, however, he found a video captioned,  _ “This is for Virgil. Happy Birthday, our Vigilant Protector!”  _ Logan frowned.  _ Virgil's birthday? Was that today?  _ He watched the video in hopes it would reveal the date. He was not let down. It was a an edit of Virgil and Roman with the song  _ Say Something  _ by Anna Blue and Damien Dawn. And at the end was today's date.  _ December 19th.  _

Logan ran a hand down his face as he sighed.  _ How could they have not known this?? _ He stood up from his chair. Forgetting his original intent to search through the Logicality tags. He needed to fix this problem. They couldn't ignore Virgil on this important day. 

\----

Virgil lay in his room, listening to his music, listening to the lyrics playing through his headphones. The voice of Mary J. Blige singing in his ear. He became so entranced in the music, as it flowed through his brain, he begun to sing along, softly as he let the music take him.

_ “Somebody once told me that pain is a game we all gotta play. Then why am I in overtime and sudden death every other day. I know that for the good of life there's a price we all gotta pay. But I'll pay till I'm poor and I still don't know what it is to have a good day, Yeah.”  _ Virgil became lost in the music as he began to sing slightly louder. 

“ _ Since everybody knows what it is that I need to do. Well, do me a favor, let me worry bout me and you worry bout you. I don't need no one to put me down, I'm on the ground, can't get no lower. And I don't need no one to hang around and make me frown just makes me look older. And I don't need no one to black my eye and tell me lies Don't wanna cry over nobody else. No no no no I can do bad all by myself.”  _

Virgil was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard a loud knock on his door. He felt himself frown. _ Who was it and what did they want?  _ He heard another knock, louder this time, more insistent. “I’m coming!” He shouted. He slid out of bed and shuffled over to the door and opened it to find Roman as he pulled his headphones down to rest around his neck. “Roman?”

Roman looked distressed. His hair sticking up slightly and his princely attire looked rumpled. Virgil frowned. “Roman? Are you okay?” He asked. 

“Why?” 

Virgil felt his heart squeeze at the almost  _ broken _ tone in Roman's voice. Whatever it was, it clearly hurt him. “Roman?”

“Why didn't you tell us that today,” Virgil's eyes widened.  _ No. Nonononono!  _ “Is your birthday.” 

Virgil felt his heart beat quicken, his breathing shallow. If he didn't do something soon he would be thrown into a full blown panic attack. He looked anywhere but Roman. 

“I-uh……….” he couldn't breathe. He was going to have a panic attack. “Um...I-uh….” Virgil felt his blood rush in his ears. 

“Hey, hey,” Roman whispered as he moved slightly closer to Virgil, concern etched into his face. “Virgil? Can you breathe for me?” He asked. 

Virgil eyes were unfocused as they moved frantically, never landing on one thing for more than a few seconds. “Virgil? I'm going to place my hands on your shoulders now.” 

Virgil felt Roman's hands on his shoulders seconds after Roman warned him and he felt himself be grounded. He took deep breaths. He did the breathing exercise and soon he was able to breathe normally and he could focus on Roman.

Roman searched Virgil's eyes as he waited for the anxious side to calm. “Virgil?” He started. “Can you tell me why you didn't tell us?” 

Virgil looked down. “I'm sorry.”

Roman frowned. “Do you think we could sit down and talk about it?” Roman whispered. 

Virgil was silent for a few seconds before he nodded slowly. They moved to sit on the dark bedspread. Virgil sat back against the wall, a pillow behind his back as he pulled his knees up to his chest. He wrapped his arms around his legs as he rested his chin on his knee caps. 

Roman tried to sit as casual as he could in order to try make Virgil feel  comfortable. “Take your time,” he whispered softly. 

Virgil nodded. “I-” he swallowed. “I really don't like my birthday. I...uh- I used to kinda look forward to it….uh- before I realized that….it wasn't important.”

Roman frowned. He really wanted to say something but he knew he couldn't. He had to let Virgil continue. 

“So I started to hate my birthday, because every time I tried to celebrate it, something would happen that ruined the whole day. So I started to ignore it. I tried to act like it was any other day so this stupid curse wouldn't ruin the day.” Virgil growled as he became frustrated. 

Roman felt his heart squeeze. His little storm cloud was hurting and part of it was his fault. “Unfortunately, something always happens to get my hopes up and I end up feeling a little hopeful and then something bad happens and I just-” Virgil pulled at his hair. 

“Virgil?” Roman slowly moved his hands to grab Virgil's and pull them from where they were tangled in his hair. He held them loosely, making sure that Virgil could pull away if he wanted to.

“I just hate myself so much for letting myself get my hopes up.” Virgil pulled his hands from Roman's and pulled his knees into his chest. “So, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to keep hoping for something better only to be let down.”

Roman's heart broke. He had to do something about this. “I'm sorry, Virgil. It's partially my fault. We should have accepted you the moment we meet you.” 

Virgil shrugged. “S'fine,” he mumbled. 

Roman frowned. He wanted to comfort him but it seemed like Virgil wouldn't like it. Plus, he had to set to work breaking the curse. Roman placed a hand on Virgil's shoulder. “I'll leave you alone then. Just make sure you eat.” Virgil nodded and Roman left, closing the door behind him.

Roman frowned as he stood outside of Virgil's room. He had to fix this. He had to break this “curse”. 

\----

“Patton! I need your..” Roman burst into Patton's room but stopped when he saw the canvas on the floor. It was covered in drips and lines in of shades of purple, black, gold, and crimson. Roman gasped. “Patton…” 

Patton's head whipped up to meet Roman's gaze. “Oh! Hey, Roman!” 

“What's this?” Roman asked, gesturing to the canvas laying on the floor, drying. 

“Oh!” Patton's face fell. “Well, I found out that today is Virgil's birthday. And I had to make him something. And I knew I could make this real quick and then I could make him a birthday dinner and maybe some treats.” 

Roman nodded. “Yeah, I found that out too. But I also found out why he didn't tell us.”

Patton turned to Roman. “You know why?” He looked….hurt almost….like when he felt like it was his fault that Virgil didn't trust them with that information. 

Roman nodded. “Yes. He says that he feels like his birthday is cursed. And if he celebrates it then the day will turn bad, like something bad will happen.” 

“Poor kiddo.”

“And he says he used to be excited but was just let down too much and it hurts him that he always gets his hopes up and he just feels so stupid. And then he said that back before we accepted him, he knew that it wasn't important to us.”

Patton's heart broke. “Oh no. We-” he paused and fought back tears. “We have to fix this.” Roman nodded. “Lets get Logan.” 

Patton marched out of the room with Roman close behind as they made their way to Logan's bedroom. Patton knocked on the door quickly and said, “Logan, open up. We need your help.” 

The two heard a “come in,” and entered to see Logan with wrapping paper, a box of new noise canceling headphones, a collection of every season of supernatural and a small set of pencils and a sketchbook. 

“I take it you know today is Virgil's birthday?” Roman asked as he eyed the gifts.  _ What was he going to get Virgil? _

Logan looked up, his glasses slightly askew. He quickly adjusted them and sighed. “Yes. And I take it you two were coming here to ask for my help to celebrate it?” 

Patton nodded. “Yeah. He thinks his birthday is cursed and I think part of it is our fault and either way we need to fix this.” 

Logan nodded as he looked down at the three presents he hadn't wrapped yet. “I was just getting ready to wrap these. But, what do you need me to do?” 

Patton sighed. “Well, I think Roman had an idea.” Both traits turned to the prince, waiting for his instructions. 

Roman was determined to make sure that they did whatever they could to make this  a good birthday for Virgil. “Alright, Logan, wrap presents. Patton, you said you wanted to cook something so I'll leave that to you, but also, I think you should bring your present in here for Logan to wrap. And I will find my present for Virgil and decorate the living room. I won't go all out but, I think maybe….” Roman trailed off, a slight smile adorning his features. “Maybe it needs a little Virgil-fying.” Patton and Logan smiled and set off to work quickly. Roman let out a sigh of relief. Now he just had to hope that they could make Virgil happy.

\----

Virgil lay in his bed, watching reruns of  _ Ghost Adventures _ . He checked the clock and saw that he had about 7 more hours of this day to go. He just wished this day was over already. It was dragging by and Virgil felt like he was going to rip his hair out. Virgil was brought out of his thoughts abruptly when he heard a loud knock on the door. 

Virgil sighed and pulled himself out of bed, shuffling over to the door, he pulled the door open to find Roman, smiling shyly. “What do you want Princey?” 

Roman looked down and shuffled his feet. “Well, Patton made dinner. It's done. Are you ready?” 

Virgil narrowed his eyes at Roman. “Alright.”

Roman lit up as he smiled. “Thank you.”

Virgil frowned. Roman was acting….suspicious, but he shook the thought away and followed after Roman down the hall to the stairs before making their way to the kitchen. Virgil let a small smile slip onto his face at the smell of lasagna and garlic bread. He walked into the kitchen to find the food all dished out. Although it seems as if Logan and Patton were waiting for them to sit down. Virgil frowned slightly at the side’s strange behavior but brushed it off. Roman wouldn't have told them.

They ate in a comfortable silence with some small talk of what people did that day here and there. Virgil was no longer so suspicious. But Virgil felt himself frown when he heard a snap. “What was that?” 

Roman's eyes widened. “Uh,” Roman shared a glance with Logan and Patton, only making Virgil more suspicious than he already was.

“Roman?” Virgil asked, doing his best to keep his voice steady. “What is going on?” 

Roman looked down. “Uh..” He looked up at Virgil before he began to look anywhere other than Virgil. “I know you don't like your birthday but I felt like it was my fault. I made you feel unimportant and I need to make amends. I'm sorry I went behind your back but,” Roman broke off and risked a glance at Virgil. 

Virgil looked mad but...understanding. “But?” He asked.

Roman risked a small smile. “I thought it would be nice to at least try to make sure your birthday was enjoyable. Or at least, let you know that we care.”

Virgil looked down. Roman looked at Virgil in concern. “Are you okay?” Roman asked when Virgil didn't move for several minutes. Suddenly, Virgil's head shot up and Roman saw tears in his eyes. Roman started to panic. “Oh, Virgil, I'm so sorry! I just wanted to do something nice and-” he was cut off when Virgil flung himself at him and crushed Roman in a hug. Roman froze before wrapping his arms around the anxious trait. 

“Thank you.” Roman heard Virgil say. 

Roman chuckled. “There's more, love.” Roman tensed up as he realized he let the name of endearment slip. Luckily, Virgil didn't seem to notice. “Come on,” Roman whispered as he pulled Virgil into the living room with Logan and Patton following close behind. “Look,” Roman whispered once they were in living room. 

Virgil turned around to see the tv on and the main menu for The Nightmare Before Christmas. He saw black and purple streamers along the ceiling and darker curtains. The whole atmosphere just gave Virgil the feeling of being in his room on a calm night. He gasped when he saw, 5 wrapped objects on the coffee table. 

Virgil turned around to face the other three sides, tears brewing in his dark eyes. “Kiddo?” Patton asked hesitantly. 

Virgil threw himself at the father figure and hugged him right as he broke down into sobs. Logan looked bewildered as Patton rubbed soothing circles into the anxious man's back. 

“Thank you,” Virgil mumbled. 

“I'm sorry, kiddo. What did you say?” Patton asked calmly. 

Virgil pulled away from the hug and looked around at the other sides fondly. “Thank you. So much.” 

Logan gave a rare smile. “You are welcome, Virgil. We hope this is satisfactory.” Virgil smiled. Roman led Virgil to the table and moved the gifts so Virgil could sit on the table. Virgil blushed. 

“Here,” Roman motioned to the small pile of gifts. “We, uh, got you some presents.” 

Virgil shook his head as Logan and Patton sat on the couch while Roman sat on the floor next to the table. “You guys shouldn't have.” 

“Virgil, this is for you. You deserve this.” 

Virgil's lips twitched up. “Thank you guys.”

Patton giggled and leaned forward grabbing a long, thin rectangle and handed it to Virgil. 

Virgil offered a small smile. “Thanks, Pat.”

Patton nodded. “Open it, kiddo.” 

Virgil nodded and carefully pulled the bright purple wrapping paper away from the object and gasped. It was a big canvas with dribbles of shades of red, purple, black, and gold across the stretch canvas. In the middle were his name and FamILY in loopy cursive. Virgil felt his eyes become wet at the piece. 

“Thank you so much, Dad,” Virgil responded causing Patton to beam at him. 

Then Logan leaned forward and grabbed 3 of the wrapped gifts before handing them to Virgil. “I wasn't quite sure so, I decided these would be good.”

Virgil smiled at the man before unwrapping the presents. He gasped as he found a new pair of noise canceling headphones, all seasons of Supernatural, and a sketchbook with some pencils. Virgil looked at Logan and gave him a small smile. “Thank you, Lo.” Logan returned the smile as Roman grabbed the last box. 

“Here……..” Roman trailed off as he handed the box to Virgil.  _ Was he going to do it?  _ “And..uh,” he cleared his throat. “I have another gift to give you later.” 

Virgil nodded and gave a small smile to the prince. He carefully pulled the paper off the box before he opened the box. He let a small smile roll onto his face as he pulled out a Nightmare Before Christmas coloring book and some colored pencils. “Thank you so much, Roman.”

Roman smiled slightly. “Yeah, well, I knew you liked Nightmare before Christmas and coloring could help calm you down when you feel anxious and I just wanted to help out.” 

Virgil smiled at Roman. “It's perfect.” 

\-----

Roman and Virgil lay on the floor, watching the movie as Logan and Patton lay curled up on the couch, sleeping, behind them. Roman kept sneaking glances at Virgil from the corner of his eye as he tried to build up the courage to do this. “So,” Roman started as he kept his eyes on the tv. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Virgil's face turn to him. “Was today good?” 

Roman could have sworn he saw Virgil smile. “Yes. Thank you.” 

Roman smiled and turned to face Virgil. “You're welcome. I'm just glad you enjoyed it.” 

Virgil laughed softly. “I did.”

Roman stared as Virgil laughed and felt his face heat up with a blush.  _ Gosh, I love this man.  _ He shook his head slightly. He should probably get this out. “Virgil?” He asked hesitantly, playing with his crimson sash. 

“Yeah?” 

Roman took a deep breath. “Virgil, I…..” Roman looked down. “I am really sorry for everything I put you through in the past. And over time, I've gotten to know you, the real you, and well….I guess what I'm trying to say is, I've developed feelings for you. Romantic feelings, Virgil and I….I just thought I should let you know.” Roman went silent. 

The only noise in the background was the movie as it played. 

Roman felt eyes on him as he looked down, avoiding looking at Virgil. He was nervous. Very nervous about what Virgil would say.  _ He doesn't love you. Why would he? It's not like you deserve it.  _ Suddenly, Roman felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. He turned to find Virgil closer and giving him a soft smile. 

“Roman,” Virgil whispered. “I kind of feel the same way. And I would be willing, if you are, to try this out?”  

Roman could feel the anxious energy coming off Virgil in waves as the nervous male waited for his response. Roman felt a smile on his face. “I would love to date you. If that's alright with you.” 

Virgil flushed as he rolled his eyes fondly. “Of course it's alright with me. I asked you first.” 

Roman grinned.  “I know. Just wanted to make sure.” He looked at Virgil dreamily. “Can I kiss your cheek?”  

Virgil's eyes blew wide as he flushed a deep red. “Uh….” He nodded. “Yes.” Roman smiled and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Virgil's cheek. When he pulled away both sides had matching blushes. 

“Happy Birthday, Virgil. Do you think the curse is broken?” Roman asked. 

Virgil smiled. “Thank you, Roman. And….yes...I think the curse is broken.” Roman grinned and pulled Virgil into a hug. 

“Thank goodness.” 

The two sides cuddled throughout the rest of the movie and fell asleep like that. With Virgil's last thoughts being,  _ Best birthday ever. _

>  

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Have a marvelous day and relaxing night!


End file.
